When a sound becomes well worn, it can sound tired, flat, or downright boring. Many bands will contribute to the wearing of this, by jumping on the bandwagon, thus overpopulating a genre which might not have that much range in the first place, leading to a wave of same-sounding bands with little variance. Sometimes though, among all of these acts comes one or two groups who shuffle up the sound, add their own individual take on it, and create a new niche, a new sound that brings good life to the genre.
One such band is Latterman.
No, this music is not the most original, nor is it bending the punk rock genre to new highs. Instead it takes the approach of being more than a little cynical, worn out, yet thoroughly enjoyable. Not only are we presented with a genuine approach (many of the lyrics represent common real world issues such a homophobic slurs or demeaning women), which is fairly common within the punk rock style, yet, these just hit home that little harder, perhaps with the fact that they do not censor their thoughts with lines such as:
So next time I hear someone call someone a f**
Or a guy call a girl a bitch
I'm going to ***ing scream.
This sort of frustration at the lack of care about human equality is split across this 36 minute gem, with varied group vocals, harsh shouts and even some extremely well placed female vocals on the track
For Someone So Easy Going, You Sure Wear Pants a Lot, in which the clean nature shows the cracking of the vocals as the reach an almost fevered vibe towards the end of the song. At no point are you left thinking, does the band really have the ability to move up in terms of their quality. At no point are you left saying "Damn, I wish there was something a bit different here, maybe they should change it up a bit", because whilst yes, some of the riffs sound similar, or fitting into one mold, they do manage to break out of those barriers of the genre, and switch it up.
Latterman never really did get the dream career of any band, with the split occurring during the band's main period of growth, due to misinterpretation of their lyrics as well as internal conflicts, but what they have left behind in this record is a simplistic, honest punk rock album. They hold true to their point as well as pushing a reasonable message of equality and general enjoyment of life through without bluffing or smearing it.
you can't do rock and roll wrong.
now that's my ***ing way to think.
and passion doesn't just come from
a simple 3 chord pop punk progression.
so stand up and take a look
and you'll find yourself
in a sea of amazing friends.
and it just goes to show
that your bank account
means nothing to them.
